


Children of Gaia

by daniko



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff and Angst, HP: EWE, M/M, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-25
Updated: 2012-07-25
Packaged: 2017-11-10 17:12:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/468716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daniko/pseuds/daniko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“One tended to think of the beginning in the end, wasn’t that right?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Children of Gaia

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt Number:** #96: “Draco is royalty/nobility of some sort and Harry is some sort of slave/captive, maybe even the prince of a conquered nation” and the words _Arabian nights_ , _floriography_ , _mythology_ , _journey_ , _honor_ , _slave_ , _captive_ , _escape_.
> 
>  **Author's Notes:** A gargantuan thanks to shuldhavbinjamie, for going over this in record time and making sure I presented a proper piece to the world. As for the story itself, I think it’s a lot shorter that you had hoped, dear prompter. As I see it, this story would either be a novel or a snippet, so I chose that which was feasible to me. I hope I managed to capture what you wanted, all the same. Everyone else, enjoy!

“This is foolishness, Draco! Please, son, _please_ —.”

“It’s done, Mother,” the man named Draco spoke calmly. He spared the woman one last look, before turning away and stalking decidedly through the corridor, leather boots clipping ominously on the white-marble floor.

The woman cried out in frustration. She had seen it, the way her boy’s eyes had just softened just long enough to show her his panic and a frantic plea that speared her heart.

A small draft made her dress dance around her and the torches flicker. She shuddered, clutching her cloak closer to her body. Horrible place, this. Horrible place that had once been her home.

Something had to give, soon, and this woman would be damned if it was going to be her son.

Perhaps it was time to visit an old friend.

**Children of Gaia**

Many years afterwards, Draco Malfoy entered his home just after twilight.

He handed his cloak to the tiny servant and dismissed the creature with a curt nod of his head. Only then – when he was alone in the warm, cosy hallway of his cottage – did Draco’s shoulders slump, his eyes closed wearily and years of tension appeared on his face. For all that he was usually eerily pale and gaunt-looking, his blank mask learnt at his father’s knee, might Lucius rest in peace, never quite left him.

Harry hated it. Not that Harry was ever that forthcoming about it, or about anything really, but he would frown when Draco arrived home, still reeling from hours of cowering and sailing through the swamps of politics and lobbying, and couldn’t quite leave this cold persona at the door.

There had been a time, between Harry’s initial contrary fierceness and the absent empathy he showed nowadays, where Harry would slowly coax Draco’s mood out of him with his sinewy body. Draco was not stupid. He knew what had changed. Even if the house-elves insisted on giving Harry their dubious loyalty, Draco knew what went on in his house during the day, the horrible break of his trust.

Draco slowly made his way to the bedroom, took off his clothes and headed to the bathroom for a long soak. 

It was hours afterwards that Draco returned to the bedroom. He had probably missed dinner, but one of the servants would have told Harry where Draco was and, as usual, Harry would have taken care of everything. He chose a nightshirt and some pyjama pants from the dresser and sat on the bed.

In the early hours of the morning, Draco used to lean against the headboard and stare at Harry – who would be spread on his stomach stark naked on the sheets, as if he owned the place, still feverish and sweaty with their passion – and think that nobody could ever know that Harry shared Draco’s marital bed, that Harry had become much more than the slave the Dark Lord had given him all those years ago.

They couldn’t know because, if Harry ever left like he was planning to, Draco could easily claim ignorance and foul-play and escape with a few well-placed _Cruciatus_ but with his life safely kept within his body. Sometimes, Draco just wished Harry got on with it and let Draco deal with the aftermath once and for all.

Already dressed, Draco made a quick job of combing his hair and went downstairs. He felt a bit cheerier. 

There was laughter coming from inside the family room.

Draco took a moment just to drink the sight in, to enjoy its cleansing quality. Harry and Scorpius were sitting together in front of the fire with a book, Scorpius obviously trying to persuade Harry into reading him a story.

“ _Stoppit_ , Harry!” Scorpius squealed as Harry tickled him. “Read the story!”

“You’ve heard that story hundreds of times, Scorpius,” Draco said in guise of announcing himself.

Grinning, Harry whirled the chair in Draco’s direction, picked Scorpius up and came closer, the ownership bracelets on his ankles rattling pleasantly to Draco’s ears. Harry leaned up so that Scorpius could kiss Draco’s cheek, then lifted his head and made a show of puckering his lips, making Scorpius laugh and tearing a reluctant smile from Draco.

“Idiot.”

Harry’s grin turned loop-sided. “Why, love you too!” Harry’s smile turned soft as they looked at each other, then vanished just as Harry dropped his gaze. “Draco.”

Draco felt a familiar tightness close in around his chest.

Harry had been wonderful to a motherless, newborn Scorpius. He had been – and still was – one of the handsomest creatures Draco had ever laid his eyes on; warm, pliable, generous and sexy in bed.

Excepting perhaps that first night, when Harry glared at Draco all the way through the house to the bedroom, then shoved Draco onto the bed and said through gritted teeth, “I’m exactly where I want to be, you amoral git, so this will be happening on my terms,” which hadn’t made a lot of sense to Draco, until Draco realised in the years that followed that Harry didn’t do anything he didn’t want to without putting one hell of a fight.

Where else was Draco going to find someone similar in this godforsaken land?

Draco didn’t even know why he was thinking of these things.

One tended to think of the beginning in the end, wasn’t that right?

And there was this odd mood about Harry tonight. He hadn’t handed Scorpius to Draco like he usually did when Draco finally sat in the family room, always thinking of Draco’s need for comfort and that Scorpius’s missed his dad. Instead, he held on tightly to the child, walked around with Scorpius either thrown over his shoulder or at his hip. It was just like Draco imagined their days were like.

“Can I listen to the story, as well?”

“’Course you can, daddy,” Scorpius said, just as Harry sat himself on the sofa with Scorpius between his legs.

Draco motioned next to Harry and poked at him until Harry rolled his eyes and leaned forward, so that Draco could sit behind him. Once seated, Draco pulled Harry closer to his chest and dropped a kiss to his head. Another odd thing about tonight: Harry seldom was compliant enough to allow such affectionate gestures.

“What’s today’s story about?” Draco asked. Scorpius looked up from where he lay his head on Harry’s chest.

“Today’s story is about—,” Harry hesitated momentarily, before adding, “—trust. And honour. Hope. It’s about doing what is right, even if it hurts a bit. For the greater good. ” Harry stopped and visibly swallowed. “It’s also about being brave, enough that you don’t care what people think of you for doing what you must. It’s about giving up the things you love the most, in order to do what you’re supposed to. It’s about love and friendship. It’s about three, well, let’s say three brothers, who fought together for what was right.”

_Once upon a time, there was a wizard who thought it was foolish to hide from the non-magical folk, that wizards were best and that they should rule the entire world. Luckily, many wizards and witches didn’t agree. There was one other wizard who thought that, if wizarding folk were indeed the more powerful, they should do their best to help the non-magical folk, but not mess with their ways. Because of that, the land was divided in the Land of Light and the Land of Darkness._

“Did they fight, Harry?”

“Yes. Many people were hurt. And then more people, younger people, the sons and daughters of those who had been hurt, were called to fight as well.”

Scorpius was wide-eyed with curiosity. Harry picked up the story.

_One day, the Dark Lord had an idea._

_There was a place in the Land of Light where Dark wizards could get in, but it was very difficult. It was a school and his idea was to send children. Because children are good_ – Harry poked Scorpius in the tummy, and Scorpius giggled – _no one doubted them when they said they wanted to go to school. But those children had been threatened. The Dark Lord told them he would hurt them if they didn’t do as he asked._

_The man who ruled the Land of Light was the smartest man that had ever lived—_

“Like your friend from your other stories, Harry.”

“Just like my friend.”

_—and this man was called Menoetius. He realised what the children planned to do and, because he had been hurt badly just a few months before, he decided to take the greatest sacrifice so that his ideals and his friends could live on and win. He died._

“ _No_!”

Harry smiled softly at Scorpius’ outburst.

_To make sure that his plans worked like he had planned, he asked one of his brothers, Prometheus, to pretend to betray the Light and to kill him. This brother would then become a spy in the Land of Darkness._

_The problem, you see, is that their youngest brother, Epimetheus, was a foolish little boy, who had bravery in spades, but was also very reckless. Epimetheus decided that too many people had been hurt; that it was time to end the war. His friend Phoebe was the smartest, most curious witch in the Land of Light and, seeing that Epimetheus was determined to do something foolish, she told him about a secret passage that would take them straight to the Land of Darkness, so that Epimetheus could kill the Dark Lord with her help._

_They were captured._

_You see, Epimetheus was so foolishly arrogant that he forgot the Dark Lord could reach into his mind. And so he, Phoebe and their very good friend Helios were captured. These three friends were so famous that the Dark Lord decided to show them to his followers, to show he had won over them. And so Helios, Phoebe and Epimetheus were given to people as servants, like they were common house-elves._

_When this news reached home, the remaining brother was furious. But Prometheus was so brave that he said, “I’ll go get those reckless dunderheads!”_

Scorpius giggled, but Harry just smiled and kept going.

_Since Prometheus was a spy, he had no problem walking into the Dark Lord’s lair. There, a lovely woman called, let’s say, Lily, a lent lily—_

“Genus _Narcissus_ ,” Draco said, voice thick.

“Yes,” Harry said and continued, seemingly not realising that Scorpius had become very still in the last minutes and that his eyes were closing, his breath regular and soft.

_Lily was very frightened, because her son was the child that had been asked to kill Menoetius and now the Dark Lord wanted him to show his loyalty to their cause. As a reward, the Dark Lord gave Epimetheus to this boy. Like everyone knows, when the Dark Lord gives you something, it means you can’t say no._

_It was then that this Lily became very brave. Like another Lily, another time. She promised Prometheus to destroy one of the seven pillars of the Dark Lord’s strength. And she did. By then, only two were left and one of them would sort itself in time. She told Prometheus that, when the time was right, she would help Epimetheus, Phoebe and Helios escape._

_Then, Epimetheus would go to the King’s Tower to finish the Dark Lord._

_The time came._

_The problem was, Epimetheus had found home in the Land of Darkness. Because of that, he did something very, very foolish, something Prometheus was going to hex him for. He decided to say goodbye. It was a foolish risk to take, one that could destroy everything he, Prometheus, Phoebe and Helios had worked years to arrange. But Epimetheus didn’t regret it. He always thought better with his heart. And he still hoped for his happy ending._

_The End._

There was silence, broken only by the creaking logs in the fireplace.

Harry was holding Scorpius tightly against his chest and Draco was holding Harry likewise.

After what felt like eons, Draco eased his grip on Harry’s middle and said, with a voice hoarse but steady, “I’m glad Scorpius fell asleep halfway through. Can’t have you teach Scorpius fake mythology.”

Harry frowned. “Draco—,” he began.

“Shut up, Harry.” He bent to pick Scorpius up. “Get to bed. I’ll be there in a minute.” Draco left the room without so much as a glance backwards, but that was only because of a very handily-placed mirror near the family room’s doorway.

Draco told himself that their eyes hadn’t met and Harry hadn’t looked torn between fierce resolution and heart-breaking anguish.

*** 

“How does the story end?”

“You know I don’t know. I only have hope.”

*** 

Draco was startled awake from a fitful sleep in the cold, dirty floor of his cell by the ruckus outside.

“Out of my way, I need—oh, it’s you, Kingsley. Sorry, can you move to the side, please?” said a female voice, crisp and efficient. The famous “Phoebe”, Draco reasoned.

“This is not a fit place for a child, Granger,” grouched the cell guard.

“We’ll not be staying long, Kingsley.” There it was, the voice Draco most longed for, but had given up hope of ever hearing again.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Malfoy’s been forgiven,” added “Phoebe”. “For services rendered. Malfoy protected Harry during his indentured servitude and turned a blind eye to the resistance’s activities.”

Well, truth be told, Draco had thought Harry was cheating on him with Severus, presumably “Prometheus”, so this was not a very accurate account of the events, but well. If it got Draco a Wizengamot pardon, it would do just fine.

“There you go, read it,” said Harry, sounding irritated.

There was a rustling sound and the door squeaked open.

“Daddy!”

“Scorpius!” Draco scrambled to his feet and pulled his son close, so close he must be hurting Scorpius, but the child held on just as tight. By Merlin, but Draco’s love for this boy made it difficult to breathe.

After a while, he lifted his head. “Harry?”

“Explanations later. I came to take you home. I’m afraid it’s not as cosy as the Dragon’s Lair, in fact it’s a grim old place, but it’ll do until we can figure out something better, I reckon.”

“I—I’m really free?”

Harry smiled. “Yes. That’s the gist of it.”

Draco took a shuddery breath. “Thanks. For taking us in. Really.”

“Oh, shut it. Didn’t you hear my story? I just told Scorpius the ending. Why don’t you tell your dad, Scorp?” Harry prompted, patting Scorpius in the head.

“It was a happy ending, dad! Epimetheus defeats the Dark Lord and lives happily ever after. He gets a pet!”

Harry’s eyes were dancing with mirth.

Draco relaxed at the familiar situation, Harry’s mischievousness.

“It was a dragon, I bet.”

“Daddy! How did you know?”

“I don’t suppose there is also a scorpion somewhere, is there?”

Scorpius huffed. “Daddy, did you know the story _already_?”

“I had hoped I did.” Draco said, and he and Harry shared a smile.

**Author's Note:**

>  **Disclaimer:** All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended.


End file.
